Ticket cartridge and hopper and stacker therefor

ABSTRACT

A cartridge for merchandise tickets or the like having a slot in its bottom at a ticket entrance end of the cartridge into which the tickets may be fed individually and having a slot in an opposite ticket discharge end and adjacent the bottom through which individual tickets may be fed out of the cartridge. The cartridge may be placed into a hopper having a feed roll movable upwardly so as to frictionally engage the lowermost ticket in the cartridge for feeding the ticket out of the cartridge; and the cartridge may be placed into a stacker having feed rolls for moving a ticket through the slot in the bottom of the cartridge, with a feed roll being frictionally engagable with the ticket for moving it completely into the cartridge. A single switch is closed by the cartridge in the stacker so as to condition an associated machine for operation, and this switch is also actuated by a block on the top of a stack of tickets in the cartridge so as to open the switch when the cartridge is full for disabling the machine.

United States Patent Charlson et al.

[ 1 June 3, 1975 TICKET CARTRIDGE AND HOPPER AND STACKER THEREFOR [75]Inventors: Paul Marlin Charlson; Charles Donald Green; William JohnHarris, all of Rochester, Minn.; Keith Erwin Inman, Leander, Tex.

1731 Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY.

[22] Filed: Nov. 7, 1973 [2]] Appl. No.: 413,749

[52] US. Cl. 221/197; 221/259; 271/118; 271/212; 312/42; 206/39 [51]Int. Cl B65h 1/06 [58] Field of Search 221/277, 259, 197, 198; 271/118,123-126; 312/35, 42; 206/39, 40.5

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1928 Olsen 312/42 X11/1957 Jenkins 206/39 11/1964 Bua 221/197 2/1966 Rosenberg 312/425/1970 Ostwald 271/118 3,674,175 7/1972 Jaquish 312/42 PrimaryExaminer-A11en N. Knowles Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Keith '1. Bleuer 5 7ABSTRACT A cartridge for merchandise tickets or the like having a slotin its bottom at a ticket entrance end of the cartridge into which thetickets may be fed individually and having a slot in an opposite ticketdischarge end and adjacent the bottom through which individual ticketsmay be fed out of the cartridge. The cartridge may be placed into ahopper having a feed roll movable upwardly so as to frictionally engagethe lowermost ticket in the cartridge for feeding the ticket out of thecartridge; and the cartridge may be placed into a stacker having feedrolls for. moving a ticket through the slot in the bottom of thecartridge, with a feed roll being frictionally engagable with the ticketfor moving it completely into the cartridge. A single switch is closedby the cartridge in the stacker so as to condition an associated machinefor operation, and this switch is also actuated by a block on the top ofa stack of tickets in the cartridge so as to open the switch when thecartridge is full for disabling the machine.

6 Claims, 16 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJIJM 3 ms SHEET FlG. i3

JJBSTJOB PATRFFFmC.

SEZEEI FIG. 10

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SHEET FIG. 15

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATION The cartridge. hopper andstacker disclosed herein may be used as parts of the machine forprocessing merchandising tickets disclosed and claimed in the US patentapplication of L. L. Amunclson, W. E. Beuch. C. D. Green, and W. J.Harris, Ser. No. 371,3l9, filed June 18. 1973, now US. Pat. No. 3.851457issued Dec. 17, 1974.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to merchandisingtickets and particularly to a cartridge for receiving and for dispensingthese tickets, together with a hopper and a stacker with which thecartridge may be used.

It has previously been customary for a cashier in a retail store toobtain price information from merchandising tickets attached to articlesfor sale by simply reading the price printed on the merchandisingtickets and then keying the price information onto a cash register. Thismode of operating is relatively slow and effort consuming, and it is anobject of the present invention to provide an improved means wherebyprice and other information may be magnetically encoded on merchandisingtickets and whereby these tickets may be expeditiously collected andstored.

More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to providean improved cartridge for receiving such merchandising tickets eitherdeposited therein manually of from a magnetic encoding or readingmachine and for dispensing such tickets.

The improved cartridge of the invention has a ticket discharge end bymeans of which the machine may sequentially discharge tickets from thebottom of the cartridge into the machine for subsequent encoding orreading and has a ticket entrance end opposite the ticket discharge endwhereby the tickets after having been read or encoded may be movedsequentially into the bottom of the cartridge. The tickets move into andout of the cartridge in the same direction; and, therefore, thecartridge may be used in either a hopper position in the machine or astacker position in the machine.

It is also an object of the invention to provide improved switch meansin the stacker position of the machine utilizing only a single switchfor both sensing when the cartridge is in proper position in the stackeras well as for sensing when the cartridge is full at this position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of amerchandising ticket used by the cartridge of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a strip of the merchandising tickets;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cartridge of the invention, with acover of the cartridge being shown in its lowermost position;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the cartridge, with the coverillustrated in raised position;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the cartridge, with the cover and otherparts thereof being shown separated from the main casing of thecartridge;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the cartridge;

2 FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7-7 of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a perspective bottom view of the cartridge; FIG. 9 is an endelevational view of the bottom por- 5 tion of the cartridge, showing amerchandising ticket being pressed into the cartridge;

FIG. 10 is a front elevational view of stacker mechanism in which thecartridge of the invention may be used;

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary top view of a portion of the stacker mechanism;

FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken on line l2l2 of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of hopper mechanism with which thecartridge may be used;

FIG. 14 is a front elevational view of a portion of the hoppermechanism;

FIG. 15 is a top plan view of the hopper mechanism; and

FIG. 16 is an end elevational view of the hopper mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Tickets 30 of a type suitablefor use with the cartridge of the present invention are illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 2. An individual such ticket 30 particularly used in thecartridge is illustrated in FIG. 1, and a plurality of such tickets 30connected together in a continuous length in which such tickets may bereceived from a supplier and prior to being disassociated for use in thecartridge of the invention are illustrated in FIG. 2. The tickets 30illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, may, for example, be about 2 inches inlength (or may be 1 inch or 3 inches long if corresponding changes tothe dimen sions of the cartridge are made). The tickets 30 asillustrated in FIG. 2 are in the continuous trip 32, each being definedwith respect to adjacent tickets in the strip 32 by means of perforationlines 34. A relatively short slot 36 and a relatively long slot 38 aredisposed in each of the perforation lines 34. Each of the tickets 30 hasa round hole 40 in one corner, and a slantwise extending perforationline 42 divides this corner of the ticket 30 with respect to the rest ofthe ticket. As will be noted, the perforation line 42 does not passthrough the opening 40.

Each of the tickets 30 has a stripe 44 of magnetic material extendinglongitudinally of the ticket on the upper surface of the ticket. Thestripe may be applied onto the ticket 30 and onto the strip 32 by anysuitable means. It will be noted that the slots 38 are longer than thestripes 44 and divide the stripes 44 of adjacent tickets and the strip32. The slots 36 are outside of the stripes 44. Print lines 46 and 48may be applied onto the tickets 30, above and below the stripes 44.

The tickets 30 may, for example, be used in connection with articles forsale, such as garments; for example, men s suits or womens dresses. Thetickets 30 are used individually (disassociated with respect to thestrip 32 and in their individual detached forms as shown in FIG. I), andan individual ticket 30 is fastened onto a garment by means of a smallplastic anchor (not shown) that extends through the opening 40 andthrough the garment. The magnetic stripe 44 of the ticket 30 has beenencoded magnetically with size, type, and price information, forexample; and some of this information is printed in the print lines 46and 48 onto the ticket so that the information is in human readableform. When the article is sold, the ticket is broken into two parts bytearing along the perforation line 42; and the information carried bythe stripe 44 is then decoded by any suitable means. The corner of theticket 30, through which the opening 40 has been provided, remainsattached to the garment by means of the anchor.

The cartridge 400 of the invention is illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 9 andcomprises an outer casing 402, a cover 404 and a block 406 slidablydisposed in the casing 402. The casing 402 is formed by end walls 408and 410 and side walls 412 and 414. An opening 416 is provided throughthe wall 414, and the opening 416 terminates at its bottom in adownwardly tapering opening position 416a. The end walls 408 and 410 areprovided with a pair of inwardly extending ribs 418 and 420.

A pair of flanges 422 and 424 are formed integral with the side walls412 and 414 respectively and provide the bottom of the cartridge 400.The flanges 422 and 424 terminate short of the end wall 408 so as toprovide a transversely extending slot 426 in the bottom of thecartridge. The end wall 410 is provided with a slot 428 therein whichextends for the complete internal width of the casing 402 and which isterminated on its bottom by the flanges 422 and 424. A verticallyextending slot 430 is also provided in the end wall 410 and connectswith the slot 428.

A pair of vertical grooves 432 and 434 are provided in the casing 402,partially defined by the side marginal portions of the wall 414. Thecover 404 is rectangular and is slidably disposed in the slots 432 and434. The cover 404 has a tapered bottom portion 436 that extends intothe opening portion 416a when the cover 404 is moved downwardly in thecasing 402 to the limit of its motion.

The cartridge 400 is closed at its top by a cap 438 which is fixed tothe casing 402 by any suitable means. An opening 439 is provided in theside wall 412 which is bounded on its upper end by the cap 438.

The block 406 is provided with cored openings 440, 442 and 444 throughit for lightening the block and is provided with an additional coredopening 446 therein for receiving the spring 448 and particularly therolled up portion 450 of the spring. The spring 448 extends downwardlyon the inner surface of the wall 412 and through an opening 452 to a pin454 by means of which the spring 448 is attached to the casing 402. Thespring 448 is preferably of the constant tension type such as isdisclosed in US. Pat. No. 2,609,192, for example, and exerts a constantdownward force on the block 406 by means of its rolled-up portion 450,regardless of the distance the block 406 is from the lower end of thecasing 402.

The cartridge 400 may be utilized by both a hopper 74 and a stacker 76.The hopper 74 comprises a table 348 (see FIG. 13) and a backboard 350 onwhich a cartridge 400 rests A ticket pick roll 136 (see FIGS. 14 and 15)is positioned beneath the hopper 74 and is mounted on a movable swingarm 138 for moving through an opening 351 in the table 348. Any suitableelectromagnet (not shown) may be utilized for swinging the arm 138 andpick roll 136. The pick roll 136 is driven from a pulley 126a by meansof a belt 286 (see FIG. 15) extending around pulleys 288 and 290. Thepulley 288 is fixed with respect to the pulley 126a, and the pulley 290is fixed with respect to the pick roll 136.

A throat knife assembly is positioned at the exit end of the hopper 74and comprises a swinging arm 294 pivoted at 296 and carrying a knife298. The arm 294 also carries a roll 300 disposed in close proximity tothe lower end of the knife 298 for assuring that only one ticket at atime may leave the hopper. A spring 302 is effective on the arm 294,attempting to move the arm 294 upwardly. A pair of nipped rolls 124 and126 are positioned slightly beyond the throat knife assembly for movinga ticket 30 that has passed out of the hopper 74 and between the knife298 and roll 300 completely out of the hopper 74. The roll 126 is drivenfrom the pulley 126a for this purpose. A retainer spring 352 extendsthrough the backboard 350 for snapping over the cartridge 400 andholding it in position on the table 348. The knife 298 extends into theslot 430 when the cartridge 400 is in the hopper 74.

The stacker 76 comprises a table 354 (having a raised portion 354a) anda backboard 356 on which a cartridge 400 rests (see FIGS. 10 and 12). Aticket 30 is driven into the stacker by means of a pair of rolls 172 and174, located below the stacker, and movement of the ticket 30 into thestacker is completed by means of a stacker roll 176. The roll 176extends through the table portion 354a, and roll 176 is disposed beneaththe stacker 76 on the end of a swing arm 178 which may be actuated byany suitable electromagnet (not shown). The roll 176 is driven from theroll 174 by means of a belt 292 that extends over both rolls 174 and176. The roll 174 may be driven from a pulley 174a that is in turndriven from any suitable power source.

A retainer spring 358 holds the cartridge 400 in position on the table354 of the stacker 76. An electrical switch 360 (see FIG. 12) ispositioned on the rear surface of the backboard 356, and the switch 360includes an actuator 362 protruding from the switch and acted on by aninternal compression spring 364 in the switch. An arm 366 pivoted on apin 368 acts on the actuator 362 and extends through the backboard 356and through the opening 439 in the cartridge 400 in the stackerposition. A lever 370 also pivoted on pin 368 extends through thebackboard 356 and has an arm portion 370a disposed over a portion of thearm 366 to have a lost motion connection 372 with respect to the arm366. A grasshopper return spring 374 yieldably holds the lever 370 inits position in engagement with the arm 366.

The cartridge 400 is so designed that individual tickets 30 may bemanually loaded into the cartridge 400 one at a time or many at a time,or the cartridge may be machine-loaded with tickets 30 while in thestacker 76. To manually load the tickets 30 one at a time into thecartridge 400, a ticket 30 is pressed or snapped past the two bottomretainer flanges 422 and 424 as shown in FIG. 9. Pressure is applied onthe center of the ticket in the direction A to bow the ticket inwardly,and the ticket is moved into the cartridge and is snapped past the twoflanges 422 and 424 against the action of the spring 448 which exerts acontinuous force on the block 406 tending to move the block 406 towardthe flanges 422 and 424. The cartridge 400 is preferably inverted forthis operation so that the lips 422 and 424 are at the top as shown inFIG. 9. This mode of operation is particularly desirable when thecartridge 400 is used for collecting individual tickets, the magneticstripes 44 of which have been previously read by any suitable readingdevice. Such an operation may occur particularly by a cashier whodisassociates a ticket 30 from a garment for sale, for example. bytearing the ticket along the perforation line 42 prior to reading thedata from the magnetic stripe 44 of the ticket. In all cases, thetickets 30 are put into the cartridge 400 with their magnetic stripes 44facing the flanges 422 and 424 or the lower end of the cartridge 400.The block 406 and spring 448 hold the tickets so stacked into thecartridge 400 from the lower end of the cartridge in tight contact withthe surfaces of the flanges 422 and 424.

In the event it is desired to load a stack of individual tickets 30 intothe cartridge 400, the cartridge 400 is in its normal position with theflanges 422 and 424 at the bottom; and the cover 404 is slid upwardly inthe grooves 432 and 434, as shown in FIG. 4. The block 406 is raisedagainst the action of the spring 448, and the stack of individualtickets 30 is then moved through the opening 416 in the cartridge wall414 into the cartridge 400 so that the tickets rest on the flanges 422and 424. The block 406 is then released, and the spring 448 moves theblock 406 on to the top of the stack of tickets 30 and holds the ticketstack firmly in contact with the flanges 422 and 424.

For machine loading the cartridge 400 with individual tickets 30, thecartridge 400 is positioned in the stacker 76 on the table 354. Thecover 404 faces the front, and the cartridge back wall 412 is adjacentthe backboard 356. The rolls 172 and 174 are disposed with respect tothe slot 426 in the bottom of the cartridge 400 adjacent the end wall408 (which may be considered the ticket entrance end of the cartridge)so that the rolls 172 and 174 move an individual ticket 30 upwardly andinsert it into the cartridge through the slot 426. The ticket 30 movesin the direction B (see FIG. 1) with its front end 30a foremost and withits magnetic stripe 44 down or facing flanges 422 and 424. An individualticket is thus moved beneath the block 406 and any previous tickets 30positioned in the cartridge 400 and on top of the table portion 3540.The roll 176 raises and contacts the lowermost ticket in the cartridgeto propel the new ticket 30 all the way into the cartridge 400 in thestacker 76. The stacker 76 is thus effective to machine load tickets 30individually into the bottom of the casing 402 at the ticket entranceend of the cartridge 400 after the tickets have been magneticallyencoded or have been read magnetically by an associated machine (notshown), and a series of the tickets 30 may thus be loaded consecutivelyinto the cartridge to form a stack using the stacker 76. When thecartridge 400 is removed from the stacker, the tickets 30 move down ontothe flanges 422 and 424 which form the bottom of the cartridge.

The cartridge 400 is held in position on the table 354 of the stacker 76by means of the spring 358 which extends over the top 438 of thecartridge 400. When the cartridge 400 is moved into position on table354 and adjacent the backboard 356, the cartridge wall 412 abuts againstand rotates the lever 370 against the action of spring 374 so thatinternal spring 364 is effective to move actuator 364 outwardly of theswitch 360 and open the switch 360. The arm 366 moves at this timethrough the opening 439 in the cartridge 400. The switch 360 may beconnected with the machine (not shown) for processing the individualtickets 30, by means of which the tickets 30 are moved into thecartridge 400 in the stacker 76, in such a manner as to cause themachine to be operative when the switch 360 is thus opened.

As the tickets 30 move into the bottom of the cartridge 400 in thestacker 76, the stack of tickets within the cartridge 400 builds up;and. eventually the block 406 is moved upwardly sufficiently so as tocontact and depress the actuator arm 366. The arm 366 thus closes theswitch 360, acting against the internal spring 364 within the switch360. The accompanying machine. upon this closing of the switch 360, thenstops operation; since, at this time, no more tickets 30 should be fedinto the cartridge 400 in the stacker 76.

The cartridge 400, whether having been filled with individual tickets 30inserted manually therein one at a time or many at a time or stacked inthe cartridge 400 by machine loading, may have its ticket contentsdispensed from the hopper 74. For this action, the cartridge 400 issimply transferred from the stacker 76 to the hopper 74 to be in thesame disposition in the hopper 74 as it was in the stacker 76, namely,with the cover 404 facing the front and with the back wall 412 being atthe back, in this case adjacent the backboard 350. The hopper 400 isheld in position on the table 348 by the retainer spring 352. Underthese conditions, the end wall 410, which may be considered the ticketdischarge end of the cartridge 400, together with the slot 428 in wall410 are positioned adjacent the throat knife assembly including theknife 298 and the roll 300. An individual ticket 30 is then fed outthrough the slot 428 by moving the roll I36 upwardly through opening 351so as to frictionally engage the lowermost ticket 30 in the cartridge400. The ticket 30 moves out of the cartridge 400 in the direction B andwith its front end 30a foremost. This ticket 30 then moves between theknife 298 and roll 300 which, due to their close spacing, assure thatonly one ticket 30 may move forwardly out of the cartridge 400 at atime. This ticket 30 then moves between the rolls 124 and 126 forsubsequent processing.

It is thus apparent that the construction of the cartridge 400 allowingthe tickets 30 to be fed into the bottom of the cartridge at the ticketentrance end of the cartridge (adjacent and below end wall 408) causesthe leading edge 30a of each ticket 30 to be oriented properly (at thewall 410 of the cartridge 400) for machine feedout of the tickets whenthe cartridge is in the hopper 74. The individual tickets 30 move intoand move out of the cartridge 400 to and from the bottom of a stack oftickets in the cartridge and in the same direction B and with the frontticket ends 300 foremost. Therefore, it is possible to simply transferthe cartridge 400, with its cover 404 always being disposed toward thefront, from the stacker 76 after filling to the hopper 74 for ticketdispensing. The interchangeable cartridge assembly construction allowingthe cartridge 400 to be used in either the hopper 74 or the stacker 76saves the operator time and adds to the function of a machine havingboth hopper 74 and stacker 76. A machine utilizing the hopper 74 andstacker 76 may, for example, store only the tickets 30 that are not readproperly by the machine; and, when the cartridge 400 is thereaftertransferred from the stacker 76 to the hopper 74, the tickets 30 are inthe cartridge 400 in proper orientation for re-feeding and re-readingthem without the necessity for the operator handling the tickets.Therefore, any tickets 30 that are not read properly on a first pass outof the cartridge 400 may be re-read without handling. A facile feedingof the tickets 30 out of and into the cartridge 400 from and to thebottom of a stack of tickets in the cartridge is obtained by the slot428 in the end wall 410 and by the slot 426 in the bottom of thecartridge which respectively provide a ticket outlet and a ticket inletto the cartridge.

Due to the fact that the flanges 422 and 424 are spaced to such anextent, that the individual tickets 30 may be loaded into the cartridge400 simply by pressing them between the flanges as seen in FIG. 9.allows the tickets 30 to be loaded into the cartridge 400 at a retailstation for storage; and the tickets 30 may then be drawn out ofthecartridge 400 in the hopper 74 for machine reading the tickets, forexample. The ability to open cartridge 400 by moving the cover 404upwardly in the slots 432 and 434 advantageously allows the operator toload and unload large numbers of the tickets 30 at a time, with thecartridge 400 being either in the hopper 74 or stacker 76 ordisassociated with respect to both hopper and stacker.

The switch 360 is advantageously arranged with its actuating structureso that only the single switch 360 is required to indicate twoconditions: (1) whether the cartridge 400 is in proper position in thestacker 76 and (2) whether the cartridge 400 in the stacker position isfull. When the cartridge 400 is inserted in proper position in thestacker 76, the cartridge switch lever 370 is depressed to swing aboutthe pin 368 so that the switch 360 is opened. The switch arm 366 ismoved by the block 406 when the cartridge fills so that the switch 360closes.

We claim:

1. A cartridge for generally rectangular merchandising ticketscomprising a casing which is rectangular in cross section and has abottom for supporting a stack of the tickets and has first and secondopposite end walls, said first end wall being provided with a slotadjacent said bottom through which individual ones of said tickets maybe moved out of the cartridge, said bottom being provided with a slottherein adjacent said second end wall through which individual ones ofsaid tickets may be moved into said cartridge for building up a stack oftickets in the cartridge, said bottom being formed by a pair of spacedflanges extending from said first end wall toward said second end wallwhereby individual ones of said merchandising tickets may be pressedbetween said flanges and into the bottom of the cartridge.

2. A cartridge as set forth in claim 1 and including a cover slideablydisposed in said casing and moveable upwardly in a direction away fromsaid flanges so as to permit a plurality of the merchandising tickets tobe moved into the cartridge in the form of a stack.

3. A cartridge as set forth in claim 1, said casing having a back wallwhich has said bottom slot on its right and has said end wall slot inits left, a block in said casing moveable vertically therein for actingas a weight on tickets that are moved into the cartridge from saidbottom slot, said back wall having an opening therethrough for receivinga switch actuator which the block may contact as a stack of tickets inthe cartridge increases in height in order to signal that the cartridgeis filled with tickets.

4. A hopper station for dispensing merchandising tickets of generallyrectangular form including a table having an opening therethrough, apick roll supported to be moveable through said table opening, acartridge of rectangular cross section for holding a stack of saidtickets and having a bottom with an opening therethrough and having anend wall with a ticket discharging slot therein located at said bottomof the cartridge, means for detachably holding said cartridge on saidtable with its said bottom in contact with said table, means fordrivingly rotating said pick roll, and means for moving said pick rollthrough said table opening and through said bottom opening of saidcartridge and into contact with the lowermost ticket in said cartridgefor moving the ticket out of said cartridge through said slot with thecartridge being on said table and said pick roll being rotating.

5. A stacker station for receiving generally rectangular merchandisingtickets comprising a cartridge of rectangular cross section having abottom, said bottom being defined by a pair of side flanges extendinginwardly from side walls of the cartridge and being discontinuous toprovide a ticket entrance slot in the bottom at a ticket entrance end ofthe cartridge, rolls positioned below said cartridge, means fordrivingly rotating at least one of said rolls, said rolls beingpositioned in such position as to move a merchandising ticket throughsaid slot in the bottom of the cartridge and thus into the cartridge.

6. A stacker station as set forth in claim 5 and including an additionalroll disposed beneath said cartridge; means for moveably mounting saidadditional roll so that it may move upwardly between said flanges; andmeans for drivingly rotating said additional roll so that, when it ismoved upwardly between said flanges, it moves a merchandising ticket allthe way into said cartridge from said bottom slot.

1. A cartridge for generally rectangular merchandising ticketscomprising a casing which is rectangular in croSs section and has abottom for supporting a stack of the tickets and has first and secondopposite end walls, said first end wall being provided with a slotadjacent said bottom through which individual ones of said tickets maybe moved out of the cartridge, said bottom being provided with a slottherein adjacent said second end wall through which individual ones ofsaid tickets may be moved into said cartridge for building up a stack oftickets in the cartridge, said bottom being formed by a pair of spacedflanges extending from said first end wall toward said second end wallwhereby individual ones of said merchandising tickets may be pressedbetween said flanges and into the bottom of the cartridge.
 2. Acartridge as set forth in claim 1 and including a cover slideablydisposed in said casing and moveable upwardly in a direction away fromsaid flanges so as to permit a plurality of the merchandising tickets tobe moved into the cartridge in the form of a stack.
 3. A cartridge asset forth in claim 1, said casing having a back wall which has saidbottom slot on its right and has said end wall slot in its left, a blockin said casing moveable vertically therein for acting as a weight ontickets that are moved into the cartridge from said bottom slot, saidback wall having an opening therethrough for receiving a switch actuatorwhich the block may contact as a stack of tickets in the cartridgeincreases in height in order to signal that the cartridge is filled withtickets.
 4. A hopper station for dispensing merchandising tickets ofgenerally rectangular form including a table having an openingtherethrough, a pick roll supported to be moveable through said tableopening, a cartridge of rectangular cross section for holding a stack ofsaid tickets and having a bottom with an opening therethrough and havingan end wall with a ticket discharging slot therein located at saidbottom of the cartridge, means for detachably holding said cartridge onsaid table with its said bottom in contact with said table, means fordrivingly rotating said pick roll, and means for moving said pick rollthrough said table opening and through said bottom opening of saidcartridge and into contact with the lowermost ticket in said cartridgefor moving the ticket out of said cartridge through said slot with thecartridge being on said table and said pick roll being rotating.
 5. Astacker station for receiving generally rectangular merchandisingtickets comprising a cartridge of rectangular cross section having abottom, said bottom being defined by a pair of side flanges extendinginwardly from side walls of the cartridge and being discontinuous toprovide a ticket entrance slot in the bottom at a ticket entrance end ofthe cartridge, rolls positioned below said cartridge, means fordrivingly rotating at least one of said rolls, said rolls beingpositioned in such position as to move a merchandising ticket throughsaid slot in the bottom of the cartridge and thus into the cartridge. 5.A stacker station for receiving generally rectangular merchandisingtickets comprising a cartridge of rectangular cross section having abottom, said bottom being defined by a pair of side flanges extendinginwardly from side walls of the cartridge and being discontinuous toprovide a ticket entrance slot in the bottom at a ticket entrance end ofthe cartridge, rolls positioned below said cartridge, means fordrivingly rotating at least one of said rolls, said rolls beingpositioned in such position as to move a merchandising ticket throughsaid slot in the bottom of the cartridge and thus into the cartridge.